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EA and the Microtransaction Mishandling

Posted on the 22 January 2013 by Findthebluekey @FindTheBlueKey
Dead Space 3 Promo PosterOkay now, EA. You and I need to have an honest chat here. I'm not sure what it is, but you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding about how the games industry works, and it is reflected in how you treat your gamers. There are any number of examples I could use to back up this claim, but let's go with the most recent incident, shall we?
So it has been announced that the upcoming anticipated title Dead Space 3 will contain an in-game crafting system for weapons and equipment, based on materials that are collected through gameplay. Sounds dandy! Crafting systems can be an excellent addition to a game if implemented right, as they give the player a greater feeling of involvement and personal effect on the game at hand. See, its not just any laser death-saw that you're toting around, its YOUR laser death-saw, hand crafted by the sweat of your twiddling thumbs. So crafting systems are all well and good, but(and there is always a but) this doesn't seem to be a feature created out of the goodness of EA's heart.
The issue lies in the fact that players will have the option to purchase these in-game materials using real money, in order to fast track their way to the best equipment. Wonderful, a $60 game with free-to-play monetization methods, that's exactly what the industry needed...
Dead Space 3 Weapon Crafting SystemThis appears to be nothing more than a case of EA double dipping into the pot, attempting to wring just a few more dollars out of players who have already shelled out $60 for their game. You see microtransactions often in MMOs, where you are paying to gain a competitive advantage in PvP or raiding, but Dead Space 3 offers none of the same advantages. You are paying to make your single player campaign easier. You gain weapons, a feature that used to part of the reward system for the game. Imagine that, new weapons were simply your reward for progressing! Oh how times have changed.
The argument can be made, as it can with most microtransaction systems, that none of this is mandatory, and therefor harmless. But I feel like that misses the forest for the trees. So yes, EA isn't forcing you to buy anything, but they are implanting an idea. How tempting will it be to just shell out a few bucks instead of painstakingly gathering your crafting materials? How long would it take you to earn that rocket launcher, and wouldn't you rather just have it now? And I would be willing to bet that everything from the crafting system to the difficulty curve is subtly tweaked to keep you asking those questions.
For a game that already costing gamers $60, that bothers me.

Dead Space 3 Microtransactions

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What I find worst of all is that EA is simply going to get away with this. Though the system may get some bad press on gaming publications, sales will be ultimately unaffected. The masses that were going to buy Dead Space 3 anyway are not about to change their minds. So this system will go up, it will make money(because someone will end up paying for it), and EA Marketing will have a nice pitch for their next powerpoint: Microtransactions Make Money in Every Game! I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want every game I own fleecing me for an extra five bucks. It's like the annoying roommate of the video game world...
Microtransactions are fine on their own, to be sure. They are a great way to reduce or even eliminate the upfront cost of a game, while allowing the player to dictate how much money they want to lay down for the experience. But placing this type of system in an already full priced game simply brings to mind the image of EA shaking gamers upside down for the change in their pockets.

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